This will be a short post. Why? Because, frankly, I'm afraid to say anything positive about Don Imus or anything negative about Rutgers womens' basketball team. Even the most well-conceived commentary may be misconstrued, and if someone finds it offensive, I may get in trouble. Yes, people, that is what free speech has come to - fear. Get used to it.

In lieu of well-conceived commentary, here are some words/phrases I find funny:

imus deserved to be fired because he isn't funny. coming from a comedy background, racial humor is fine--check out sarah silverman, dave chappelle, and once in a great while when carlos mencia isn't always screeching.

don imus's problem is that he makes racial jokes just to be an asshole, and he thinks it's funny when it isn't. believe it or not, there are proper ways to make great jokes, even with very risky material. don imus just fires his mouth without paying attention to craft.

just because something is offensive doesn;t mean that it's funny. any asshole can throw insults, which is exactly what don imus is. and for tha6t alone, he should have been fired AGES ago.

here's an example where something offensive is presented with skill and humor (not my joke btw):

what did the rapist say after the little boy he led into the forest told him he was scared?

you're scared? i'm the one who has to walk out of here by myself!

this is don imus: they're a bunch of nappy headed hos!

you know, why don;t i get paid to say that shit? that sounds like an easy job, what he does. where is the skill in what he said? oh wait, the only skill involved in that is saying the things other people are FAR TOO POLITE to say in public. yeah, i guess that really is some sort of talent.

imus has been saying awful insulting crap for years. and this has nothing to do with minorities being "thinskinned" and being unable to take a joke. there is a difference between a great joke and shouting an insult just because you feel like being a dick.

where i come from in los angeles, we make a ton of racial jokes here. imus didn;t get the boot because we hate free speech. he got the boot because he sucks ass and this latest comment illustrates it.

i mean c'mon--imus was never for free speech. where was his bitch ass when the republicans labeled anybody who opposed the patriot act and the iraq war as anti-american? oh, i get it--free speech is necessary when you make shitty jokes about black women, but our civil rights is just not that important. uh huh.

imus is a 2faced biotch. i'd feel for him if he cared about free speech violations committed by his side of the aisle. but you know, it's only a free speech violation when it happens to him. what a douche.

If you think there was nothing wrong with calling the ritgers girls "nappy headed hos" and it was all part of free speech, then you are a terrible human being. Free Speech should exists, but as reasonable human beings, we should also take into consideration the feelings and beliefs of others and respect them. Thats what separates us from dogs. we reason.

Let me preface my message by saying I love the site and come very often and have come to expect your brand of sports humor on a daily basis. It's excellent.

That said this post sucks. It's bad satire. It's spinning the circus that was the Imus situation into a light in which things are either black or white on this issue and it also is bad in the sense that there's a hidden shot at Rutgers in the message. I actually, like most people, am in the gray area of this story. I think Imus screwed up and some form of punishment was necessary. Maybe a month or two suspension but I don't think he should have lost his job. He took enough of a public flogging to have learned his lesson and have "gotten it". As for the women's basketball team lay off. They didn't ask to be players in this story, they're just bystanders in this incident. I'm sure if they had their choice they would have rather not have been a party in this discussion or used in some satirical fashion on this blog or by like minded bloggers. Besides we have much more Kobe hating that I'm sure we could be doing right now. :)